Nostalgic Anime

By Shantae.

A lot of people in our generation have watched anime since they were kids – in fact, even people who do not watch anime now have watched at least one or two anime when they were younger. When we were kids, we didn’t necessarily realise the difference between anime and every other animated series, but these were the foundation of our shared love for the anime we watch now.

Listed below are 3 nostalgic anime everyone (or at least the majority) have watched, and hopefully it'll unlock some hidden memories you have associated with them.

My Neighbour Totoro

This is an anime movie produced by an extremely well-known studio called Studio Ghibli, who are famous for their nostalgic, sentimental, and emotional movies. My Neighbour Totoro is just one of many examples, but I have picked this because it was one of the first anime I watched as child when I look back on my journey.

My Neighbour Totoro follows a storyline about two siblings - Mei and Satsuke, who move to a new house in order to be closer to their mother who is in hospital and consequently make friends with a big rabbit called Totoro. This movie is beautifully animated, designed to perfection and completely heartwarming (and maybe even tear jerking if you are a cry baby like me). This is a movie I recommend watching with your family.

Spirited Away

Spirited Away is another masterpiece made by Studio Ghibli and is just as amazing as My Neighbour Totoro. This anime movie is about a family who finds an abandoned amusement, and the daughter – Chihiro – watches as her parents turn into pigs. She encounters many spirits and creatures, as she steps into the supernatural world in order to bring her parents back. Spirited Away is again wonderfully constructed, but also has lots of life lessons throughout the movie as well – this is a must watch.

Naruto

Finally, we have one of the most well-known anime there is – Naruto. This is a very different genre compared to the other two, but I felt as though it was still worth mentioning. This is because Naruto was one of the first proper anime series people from western countries actually watched on TV - it’s probably one of the most influential anime in our generation.

With people watching it all over the world, either in sub or dub - we all have memories of sitting in our rooms or living rooms watching this after school on our televisions. With the series still ongoing, it’s hard to believe that such an old anime has kept the same popularity throughout almost two decades. Naruto was definitely one of the many anime that encouraged more people in western countries to carry on watching anime growing up.

Honourable Mentions:

- Yu-Gi-Oh!

- Pokemon

- Mew Mew Power (also known as Tokyo Mew Mew)

- Digimon Data Squad

- Beyblade.